'It's a prison': Afghans stranded in US camp in Qatar exposed to Iranian strikes

'It's a prison': Afghans stranded in US camp in Qatar exposed to Iranian strikes Yasmine El-Sabawi on Mon, 03/30/2026 - 16:29 Camp As Sayliyah is set to close as a transit hub for vetted Afghans, but the US has not informed them where they're going An image taken earlier this month by an Afghan asylee shows the concrete 'bunkers' that the US military installed at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar to shield residents from missile interceptions occurring overhead, due to the US-Israeli war on Iran (Supplied) Off Behnaz Jamshidi has packed her bags again, despite not receiving explicit guidance to get ready. She has no idea what is going to happen to her and her family, or where they will end up, but she knows it won't be the US. The 28-year-old Afghan mother has been at Camp As Sayliyah (Cas) in the Qatari desert for a year and four months. The US government previously announced the facility would be closing on 31 March, and that the 1,100 pre-screened and vetted Afghans awaiting US transfers there would just have to go somewhere else. But no one knows exactly where that somewhere might be. With the US-Israeli war on Iran going into its fifth week, resulting in missile interceptions right above Cas, residents have been left panicked and exposed. But that added urgency has not seemed to alter Washington's plan for the camp's closure, nor does it appear flights will be able to take off safely from the region anytime soon. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Behnaz spoke to Middle East Eye from Cas just 24 hours before the planned shutdown. "They told us nothing... There's no information in that case, no update at all," she said of State Department personnel onsite. The video she shared with MEE shows rocket trails and flashes of light accompanied by loud bangs in the sky, as families in the foreground run to seek shelter. Residents have been advised to stay in their rooms, but missile remnants have fallen through ceilings and windows, MEE was told. "No one knows what pain and hardship we endured in this camp," Behnaz said. The view from inside Camp As Sayliyah (Supplied) (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); A 2o-year-old Afghan, who asked for his name to be withheld for his own safety, told MEE that earlier this month, the US military installed what he described as "concrete bunkers" that looked like tunnels for residents to take shelter from the war overhead. "They were not safe. They told us it's safe... [but] Qatar was raining. Then the bunkers fell down... How is it safe? It's not safe for rain," he said, describing the crumbling infrastructure. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); "They don't have any plan," he said of the Americans. "I think they're just telling stories for the people to not go outside [and] to keep these people calm." MEE has reached out to the State Department for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication. 'There's no living' Afghans at Cas have no permits to move freely in Qatar, so they cannot go out to the market or take walks along the shore. When they require medical attention, they can be transported to a local hospital, but even there, their movements are monitored until they are escorted back. "We feel like we are forgotten," the 20-year-old said. 'Here, there's no living. We live like we just breathing' - Resident at Camp As Sayliyah "Here, there's no living. We live like we just breathing." Afghans were only meant to endure a maximum of 21 days at the site, in what is effectively just a long layover on the way to the US. But they would not have been flown to the camp to begin with, had they not cleared most, if not all, US immigration hurdles. The young man already has a P2 designation, which stems from his family's work with the US military. Behnaz has a P1 designation, which is a pathway for Afghans to come to the US as refugees after being referred by the United Nations or other non-profits working on resettlement issues. Her uncle, Sean Jamshidi, who came to the US at the age of four, spent a decade as a US Marine. "The reason I'm speaking up now is because of the danger that my brother is in Qatar, because of the missile fragments that fell on roofs within the homes of these Afghan allies. That is the risk, and I want them out of that area," Sean said of his eldest brother, Masoud, Behnaz's father, who is in possession of a special immigration visa (SIV). Around 180,000 people are waiting to come to the US under the SIV programme, and there are estimated to be another 65,000 refugees and 15,000 Afghans just waiting on family reunification, according to the US veteran-led advocacy group, #AfghanEvac. 'Betrayal': US to close Qatar camp housing Afghans awaiting US resettlement Read More » Masoud was a member of the local guard force at the US consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, and then became a guard force supervisor, later working with the US embassy in the capital, Kabul. "I feel disappointed. I feel very disappointed in the fact that my brother... who ultimately risked his life [when] he lost 13 fellow guard forces that he was supervising. He could have been one of them," Sean told MEE. "These Afghan allies... [to] leave them behind the way we did, just ultimately, it crushes our credibility as Americans," he added. "And that affects other partners that we're going to have to have in the future, or we already have." US President Donald Trump earlier this month urged some Iranians who may be helpful to the US government to defect, and that he would grant them asylum. "I don't have a good message for them," the 20-year-old told MEE. "Because the United States broke the promise... the feeling [is] like the United States is playing." 'This place is not normal' Behnaz's three-year-old son has now spent half his life at the camp, knowing little of the outside world apart from the short walks to the facility's cafeteria or the basic supplies distribution point. 'The rooms, they're containers. They're not actually rooms. This place is not for normal human beings to live' - Behnaz Jamshidi, camp resident Now all meals must be picked up and consumed in their rooms, given the danger from overhead missiles. "The rooms, they're containers. They're not actually rooms. This place is not for normal human beings to live. This is a military place," she described. "They do not have a single window to take some sunlight from, especially when you have kids." "It's a prison for us." Back in Herat, Behnaz ran a hair salon, which was shut down by the Taliban following the chaotic US withdrawal and collapse of the US-backed Afghan government in 2021. Going back, she said, is not an option. Some at the camp, however, have returned using stipends from the US government, she told MEE. That's because last month, US immigration advocates told Afghans at Cas to seek new lives elsewhere, given the stringency of the ban in place by the Trump administration. It was a stark public admission that the outlook is far too bleak for people to keep waiting. "The president of the United States has said that nobody from Afghanistan or several other countries are allowed to come here," Shawn VanDiver, the founder #AfghanEvac, told about 1,000 impacted Afghans in different parts of the world on a Zoom call. "There are no secret pathways, no back doors, no shortcuts," he added. Behnaz Jamshidi's room at Camp As Sayliyah (Supplied) Behnaz conceded that even though she has waited since 2021 to start a new life in the US, she is now willing to go anywhere else that is safe. "Uncertainty is very difficult," she told MEE. "If we are offered to [do] settlement in a country that provides opportunities for education, work, and [a] stable future, we are ready to leave the camp at any time." But leaving, of course, is not her choice at all. The State Department has a responsibility to ensure that all Afghans at Cas end up somewhere safe. But even down to the wire, there is no plan in place. "This is a restricted environment... we're stuck here," she said. "We feel betrayed." "I would prefer [to go to] the United States, because we were brought here for that promise," she added. I thought they're giving us hope, [that] they will be transforming us to a good place to brighten our future. But now I think they're the people who broke that promise. I see no difference between them and the people that are cruel to women and children." The 20-year-old was not as open to other options, insisting that the US should follow through on its own procedures. "We are under US rules. They have to send us to United States because I don't want to go [to another] country," he told MEE. There are currently 150 active-duty members of the US military who are waiting to be reunited with their Afghan relatives at Cas and elsewhere, such as in Pakistan. Sean told MEE that while policy changes come and go depending on the administration, those who are already in the US pipeline should not have to suffer. "Don't stop at midway where these individuals have already been vetted and are in Qatar," he said. Afghanistan Washington News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0